A Different Path
by MustangsWildSpirit
Summary: Have you ever thought of that one event that could have changed the life you know? The one event that could of changed where you lived, the person you turned out to be, or the one that would have you never exist. Well, this is the story about how my life was changed by that one event.


It had been a long day, one that Melissa Long wished she could forget. She was just leaving her Brother-in-law's house, they had gathered there after her husband's funeral. Melissa's loving husband for almost four years, died unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of twenty-eight, from a massive heart attack.

Melissa was not quite sure what she was going to do with her life now, she had no kids, with just an aunt on her side of the family. Her husband's side had a lot of family, and they would have done anything for her, she loved them dearly for that. But, she had decided that the city life was just not for her any longer. She and her husband, Peter, had talked about moving to upstate New York, maybe start a farm, so she would do that. Her aunt had a small ranch upstate, and had offered Melissa a place to stay, her aunt had an apartment built onto her barn, Melissa was more than happy to accept.

She hated to leave New York City, this was the city that her husband grew up in. The city she had ran into to her husband, quite literally, when they met in Central Park. This was the reason she had to leave, the pain of all the memories she shared with Peter, were just too much.

After she had said her good byes to the family, Melissa started home, walking in the rain to the subway station, to return to an apartment full of packed boxes. The only one waiting for her arrival was her German shepherded named April.

The rain was coming down really heavily now, the distant sound of thunder could be hear. Her clothes sticking to her as the wind blow the rain right under her umbrella, she could not wait to get somewhere dry. So when she saw the light that shown up from the subway station it was a welcome sight. When she got there her train was about to leave. So she ran to the train, but, unfortunately, it was too late; the doors shut in her face, as the train started to depart. "Great," She went to sit down on a bench, "That's cool, I will just wait here, cold and wet, for the next train, I guess…" she was the only one there to hear her woes.

Shivering as she sat waiting, she looked at her watch, it read 10:43pm; she really did not like being there this late. Melissa placed her hand into her messenger bag and felt comforted when she found what she was looking for, a small hand gun. The hand gun had been a gift from her husband, his little way of always keeping her safe. Cold, wet, with a hand on her gun, Melissa sat waiting for the next train. She looked at her watch again, 10:51pm, she was so ready to be home.

She got up and started walking around, still the only one in the station, the storm above could still be heard, she noted that it sounded like it was intensifying. A loud crack of thunder echoed down the tunnels, it sent a chill down her spine. Three more thunderous echoes reverberated through the subway station, it sounded like a monster proclaiming his terrifying present. After the last roar of thunder, she hear another sound thrown into the mix, it almost sounded like a scream. _That sounded like a child!_ She knew it had to be, she just knew it, but where was it coming from?

She went to the very edge of the subway platform and looked down the tunnel. She looked left then right, when she looked right she could detect a faint echoing cry in that direction. If you had ask her what had gone through her mind, she would have said that she did not even think before she jumped off the platform and went towards the sound.

Staying on the services road, so not to get hit by a passing train, she followed the sound. She traveled quite a ways, before she found herself standing at the mouth of a service tunnel. It was darker then night down the tunnel _,_ _the lights must not be working,_ so she fished a small flashlight out of her bag, and began down the tunnel. The crying became clearer when she entered the passageway, but as she went further it became fainter. It made Melissa panicked slightly.

As she thought about how a child could have even gotten down here, she tripped over something. She shown her light down to found a brick, returning her light down the tunnel she could see that the brick had a lot of friends. The whole tunnel was in shambles, there were bricks, planks of wood, and puddles of water everywhere. She wondered if maybe a water line busted or if a storm drain flooded over, there had been rain none stop for over a week now. She continued forward, more determined to found the source of the crying, which was now just a whimper.

Ducking her head, so not to hit her head on a huge wooden board, though, she was not paying attention to her footing. That had paid her dearly, as she tripped over a hidden pip, inevitably, ended up hitting her head on the board she was trying to avoid and fell to the ground. She brought herself up, now soaking wet and covered with mud. Her forehead felt wet, when she placed a hand up to feel it, when she brought it back and looked at her hand she saw blood.

But, she disregarded it when she found an old knapsack; it was stained with fabric fraying here and there. She looked inside of it to find a little wooden sword, a stuffed turtle that looked homemade, and a bandanna. A sharp cry sounded, which made Melissa dropped the knapsack. Her heart was beating a thousand miles an hour as she shown her light over to where the sound originated. When her flashlight found her target, she was met with a pair of bright green eyes.

She had never seen eyes as intense as these, she felt as if they could look into her very sole. Though, she slowly came to the conclusion that this was not a human child she was looking at. The skin was a shade of green. Its hands had three digits instead of five. She was slightly terrified after she had taken in the creature's appearance. What if it was dangerous? What if it attack her? These things and more ran through her head. But, when she looked back into those eyes, how hurt and frightened they were, all of her fears vanished. When she looked back that was when she noticed the cause of the creature's distress.

There was a steel beam pinning one of its shoulders, cutting into its flesh. The beam was at such an angle, that Melissa was not sure how deep the wound was. She started making her way closer, when she noticed the ground in front of this creature, there were long trails of finger marks, it had been try to claw its way free.

Quickly she mentally slapped herself back to the present. Melissa placed the flashlight down to shine the light towards the creature, so to see what she was doing, as she began working at the rumble. The ground was hard to get good footing in, it was saturated from the water falling from the broken pipes, she had to be mindful of her footing or she would get a face full of mud, again. She work her way closer to the creature, when she finally made her way in front of it, the scared thing responded by trying to shy away. But that action was a futile one as the slight movement disturbed the damage flesh of its shoulder, it gave a cry of pain.

"No, sweetie, don't do that," She said in as com a voice she could, "I'm not going to hurt you. I want to get you out of here, to help you get free." The creature locked its eyes with hers, and when she looked back, those bright green eyes were full of pain, worry, and glassed over with tires. Melissa's heart sank to the depths of the ocean. It always made her stomach drop whenever she saw a child in distress and seeing all of these emotion in those eyes just made her sick. It did not matter to her that this child was not human, in her book every child was precious.

So she took action, she started to move the rumble away. Of cause this was a very delicate operation, it would be counterproductive if she buried the both of them. She had removed all the small debris, now on to the big task, removing the steel beam.

This was the part that Melissa was not looking forward to because the only way to remove the beam from the kids shoulder would be pulling it out. But with the fact that this beam could be playing a major part in keeping the rest of the rumble from crashing on top of them. She was going to have to remove the turtle's, she could now see every detail of the creature to now see that it was a turtle, shoulder from the beam.

She placed a hand on the shoulder of the turtle, it flinched at her contact, she was not sure if it did this out of pain or fear. At the flinch she pulled her hand away slightly, "I'm sorry sweetie, but this is the only way," she was trying her best to keep her voice steady, but that was hard to do with tears running down the turtle's face. She looked away from its face, she had to steel her nerves and if she kept looking into those eyes… _Well… let's just get this over with._

She placed her hand back on its shoulder, it did flinch, but not as much as last time, it was as if it know what was coming next and it had to be brave. The turtles skin was warm, to warm, which might an infection had set in. She could focuses on that once she got the turtle free. _So, here went nothing._ Very carefully Melissa started. She was very careful as to not tear anymore skin and to not disturb the bone if she could help it. Centimeter by centimeter she worked as she freed the turtle's shoulder from the beam. Working around its shell was the hardest part but, nevertheless, she got the turtle free.

Once its shoulder was free she pull the turtle out from the rumble. Once it was free she held it close to her, "It's okay. I got you. You're safe." The little turtle in her arms did not reject the comfort. With his good arm the turtle held onto Melissa with all the strength it had. They remained that way for a good while, wet, muddy, and a bit bloody. But who cared, this little turtle was now safe from any more harm, they were home free!

They were interrupted by a cold drop of water that fell right on Melissa's forehead. She looked up just as another drop of water fell, the water started to drip faster. As she inspected the ceiling she quickly deduced what was about to happen, the tunnel could not hold back the water, it was about to collapse. She did not give herself another second, she held the little turtle closer to herself and grabbed her bag and flashlight. She then raced for the exit of the tunnel, out the way she had come.

The sound of the tunnel collapsing roared at them like a hungry lion. They had just reached the entrance of the tunnel when the rumbling stopped. Dust flew out of the subway tunnel so think visibility was little to none and had them both coughing hard to clear their lungs.

After the dust settled, still recovering from the coughing, Melissa just stood there, unbelieving of what had just happened. She snapped out of her shock when she herd the little turtle in her arms give a little cry. The turtle had its little head pressed into Melissa's shoulder crying and trembling. Maternal instincts kicked in, "Hey, it's alright," she soothed, "We are safe now; everything is going to be alright." She could now feel herself start crying. They stayed this way, standing all wet, muddy, and covered with dust, holding each other tightly. For exactly how long she was not sure nor cared, they were safe.

She only pulled away when she noted how the turtles breathing sounded off. It was very shallow and staggered, she knew that this was not normal for any species. She then really looked at the wound on the turtles shoulder, she immediately cringed at the sight. There was a large gash that ran from the top of his shoulder to his chest, or plastron, if you would. It was bad and she knew that it was only the tip of the ice berg, she needed to get this turtle home and soon. It was going to be a long night.

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 **A/N:** Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of this new story! This story has been sitting on my laptop for a long time and have been wanting to post it for some time now. So, finally, here it is! I would love to hear your thought! So, please leave a review if you could, they help motivate, big time!


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